Category: Articles
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The Earthquake: Between God and Authority
Father Lazarus Abboud: The catastrophe of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey occurred this year, and the question returned once more – who permits disasters, God or another? But what is striking is that we do not ask why earthquakes are permitted, because the earthquake occurs by reason of the nature of the earth’s formation…
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Criticism and Infallibility in the Church
Father Lazarus Abboud. Critical thinking arouses fear and anxiety in some, and some express a desire not to carry out any critical work on any level, because they see criticism as an act of opposition, rejection, or disparagement. But not carrying out any critical work is in itself a matter that arouses great fears, because it…
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Defrocking Outside the Sanctuary
Father Lazarus Abboud The Antiochian Synod took a decision yesterday to defrock a retired metropolitan, justifying the decision: the former metropolitan alleged the establishment of rights in his favor over assets and funds belonging to the diocese without any right, and resorted to the civil judiciary in the United States of America, and the fathers…
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Obedience and Disguised Servitude
Father Lazarus Abboud How do we understand obedience in the Church, how do we obey? Does the ecclesial institution resemble the military institution, so that the one of lower rank becomes subject to the one of higher rank? Is obedience a matter of command (receiving orders, wise leadership)? In that case, what is the difference…
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The Enemy Brothers (Week of Prayer for Unity) — Part One
Lazarus Abboud Christian unity is obstructed by two problems: the first is monopoly: the monopoly of the Church on one hand, and second, the desired unity. The Church is defined as the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ does not accept being divided or fragmented, but when schisms occurred in history and there…
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The Enemy Brothers (The Desired Unity), Part Two
Lazarus Abboud. The second problem that stands in the way of unity among the churches is the desired unity — that is, what kind of unity do we want and seek? The old form of unity? That the churches unite as they were before the fifth century? But this form of unity is impossible, and…
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The Enemy Brothers (Week of Prayer for Christian Unity), Part Three
Part Three, the Conclusion: To the heads of the churches and denominations. Father Lazarus Abboud At this moment in the life of Christians, more than at any previous moment, there is a need to make fateful decisions together, and this generation of religious leadership and heads of churches bears a historic responsibility to take resolute…
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Metropolitan Hilarion and Questions Concerning Church Administration
Father Lazarus Abboud: The dismissal of Metropolitan Hilarion from the post of head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Church was announced, and his removal from permanent membership in the Holy Synod, in the session of the Russian Synod held today, where the position of Patriarch Kirill, Patriarch of Russia, was…
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The Pope and the Orthodox World
The continued division of the Orthodox in this manner threatens the danger of their disappearance from the world stage and from the local arenas after a time.
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Determining the Date of Pascha Is Not a Matter of Doctrine
Lazarus Abboud. The First Ecumenical Council completely separated the Christian Pascha from the Jewish Passover and freed us from following their calendar, and Rome and Alexandria followed the custom of Pascha. Thus the First Ecumenical Council proclaimed the following: “We announce to you the good news concerning the agreement about the holy Pascha: that this…